Sugar Rush: Expansion: Why Me?
by animatedrose
Summary: King Candy has returned to Sugar Rush, cybrid form and all. Desperate to regain the trust of his former royal subjects and distraught by the chaos Turbo caused using his avatar, King Candy does all he can to prove himself to Sugar Rush. Unfortunately, being a hungry cybrid has its downsides... A bunch of drabbles, most in Daddy Turbo universe, some in random AUs tied to Daddy Turbo
1. Search for Me

I felt like doing a bunch of stuff with King Candybug. He's very fun to RP in my forum, despite all his angst. Such a funny yet kingly bug, he is.

References to my Wreck-It Ralph forum will be made. If you are confused, I shall point you to it—**Wreck-It Ralph: Expansion**—in hopes of enlightening you…and perhaps tempting you to join our RPs…because I can. :P

Suggestions are welcome, both for chapter names, chapter ideas, or possible scenarios involving our poor kingly bug. For chapter names, they must be two or three words and the last word must be 'Me' (ex. Remember Me, Visit Me, Hug Me, etc.). Just a theme I'm going to kind of try to stick with. Let's see how long _that_ lasts…

**WARNING!** This entire chapter deals with events that occur in my forum. None of this is canon. This universe is purely AU. As such, OCs will be involved here. **END WARNING!**

DISCLAIMER: Jacks Mapleman and Mallow McSmorely do not belong to me. They are property of Jac Bandit. No stealing!

CLAIMER: I own Cocoa Cupcakia, Cotton Candioso, and Pepper Swirlminta. I also own the track known as Fudgeway. No stealing!

Wreck-It Ralph

Sugar Rush: Expansion

Why Me?

Chapter 1: Search for Me

"Ugh… Where…am I?"

There were tall candy cane trees all around. Bushes of candy floss and cotton candy were nearby. Peeps chirped as they flew overhead. The scent of chocolate rose up from the ground.

"The candy cane _foretht_? How did I get out here? I'm _thuppothed_ to be in the _cathtle_!"

A massive mechanical insect rose from the ground, four long legs supporting its elongated body. Twin neon pink tails dragged along the ground before rising up, lighting up softly at the creature's movements. Two long arms ending in frilly white cuffs and razor-sharp claws stretched, the fingers clicking as they moved. A long neck made of candy rings rose, the round head at the end yawning loudly. A golden crown atop said balding head glinted brightly in the sunlight.

The beast looked around, confused. "_Where'th_ the _cathtle_? _Thurely_, I can't be too far from it!" he declared, stretching his neck as far up as it'd go in the hopes of seeing over the trees.

After a few minutes of aimless wandering, the insect monster slumped over. The face, resembling that of an old man's with silvery hair on the sides of his head and purple lines extending from his forehead and chin, contorted into an expression of despair. He looked up at the sky fearfully, two tiny legs on his chest scraping against each other as they wrung themselves about uselessly.

"Hello? _Ith_ anyone out there?" he called. "_Pleathe_! I'm in need of _athithtance_!"

There was no reply.

"…_Thour_ Bill? Wynchell? Duncan?" he tried again.

Still nothing.

"Vanellope? Taffyta? _Rancith_?" he cried desperately.

Nobody answered him.

The creature took a step back, pulling his long arms closer to his chest. "Where _ith_ everyone? Why _ith_ no one out here? I can't be that far from the _cathtle_, I _jutht_ can't be!"

He skittered deeper among the trees, long neck twisting to and fro as he sought out anyone that might point him in the direction of home. Aside from a few peeps and gummy worms, he found no one. No racers… No Sour Bill… Nobody at all…

"…Where in _Thugar Ruth_ could I _pothibly_ be that my royal _thubjecth_ can't find me?" the creature whispered, becoming more fearful as the minutes ticked by. "Oh! If only I had…_wingth_ to _thearch_ the _thkieth_ with!"

As he smashed his fists angrily into the ground, frustrated beyond belief as his sudden and total isolation from the society that adored him, he suddenly froze when he felt something on his back move. Twisting his long neck around, he noticed two pairs of stubby pink cases along his back. He frowned, watching them wiggle slightly.

"…I _thwear_ I feel _thomething_ in _thothe thingth_…" he muttered.

He focused again. A strange whirring noise along his back caught his attention. The cases suddenly froze in place…and then a blast of neon pink shot out, causing him to yelp as he pulled away. He rubbed his eyes with an arm, trying to clear his blinded vision. When he could see properly, he looked again.

They were still bright pink, but at least he wasn't going blind from looking at them. They were four wings, one extending from each case. They weren't salmon but a brilliant neon pink, almost bordering a purple color. They were really pretty to look at, admittedly.

"Funny," he muttered, a clawed hand under his chin. "I don't _theem_ to recall having _wingth_…"

After a moment, he shrugged.

"I _mutht_ have forgotten about them. At _leatht_ I can finally _thee_ above all _thethte treeth_ now!" he chirped merrily. "_Jutht_…need to remember how to _uthe_ them."

The wings began to flutter quickly, pulling him up into the air. The beast yelped when he nearly careened into a tree, struggling to maneuver around the peppermint branches. A few broke off as he collided with them, bouncing harmlessly off his armored body. His face, meanwhile, sustained quite a few scratches as he fought to get above the tree line.

"_Thweet gumdropth_, that _wath_ hard! When _wath_ the _latht_ time I _uthed thethe_?" he wondered, hovering precariously above the forest. "I _mutht_ have been racing _tho_ much that I forgot how to fly! _Thilly_ me… Now to find the _cathtle_! I don't want my poor _thubjecth_ to worry too much about me, after all. What a horrible thing for a king to do to _hith thubjecth_!"

He looked around, hoping to find one of the many racetracks snaking through Sugar Rush. It didn't take long to locate one. If he guessed correctly, it was a section of track that led from Royal Raceway to the Kart Factory with a branch-off track heading toward Fudge Fields. Yes, that had to be it. He could just barely see the factory from his current position.

"If I get to that track, I can follow it back to the _cathtle_!" he deducted. "Ooh, I hope _Thour_ Bill _ithn't_ too worried about me. He _hath_ enough on _hith_ plate _ath ith_ without needing to worry about me, too."

Really, Sour Bill did too much around the castle as it was. He oversaw everything, set the castle servants to work, ensured the code vault remained un-breached by outsiders, kept an eye out for cheaters during the races, and advised his king on just about everything. The poor sour ball needed to take a vacation. He'd told Sour Bill this many times. It just seemed like Sour Bill enjoyed making himself miserable by working nonstop. He didn't need to do so much for his king, really…

_Makes me seem useless sometimes,_ he thought with a giggle.

He flew over the forest, wings buzzing loudly as he headed toward the track. It seemed pretty empty at the moment. Judging from the sun, it had to be past arcade hours. Surely there had to be a few racers out and about! It wasn't like them to just turn in after all that racing.

Especially since today was their first day in the arcade!

The giant bug froze mid-flight. "Oh no! Did we glitch or _thomething_? _Ith_ that why I ended up out here? Oh, I hope everyone _elthe ith_ okay! Mod, _pleathe_ don't let _uth_ get unplugged! I have to get back and _fatht_!"

He shot toward the track, eyes wide in terror. Just the thought of getting unplugged sent a shiver down his spine. Not on their first day, please no! The racers have been looking forward to joining an arcade since the Fudgeway. He couldn't bear to see his royal subjects' dreams crushed so soon after being plugged in!

_Especially Vanellope,_ he thought. _She worked so hard in Fudgeway to improve her racing! To not be able to race, especially when it's in your code… Mod, please no! Don't let us be unplugged so soon! Please, no!_

His wings were buzzing so fast that he could hear the gears grinding in his back. The armor was heating up. If he kept this up…

He stopped short of the track, landing heavily on the upper branches of a candy cane tree. His wings pulled back into their cases. The heat was dying down now. At least it didn't feel like he was about to roast anymore.

Movement below caught his attention. He paused, swinging his head around. He could make out two tiny figures…

_Is someone out here after all? Oh, I knew someone would come looking for me!_ he thought giddily, skittering quickly along the thick branches of peppermint in order to get closer.

He recognized one of them immediately. That shock of white hair brought up only one name in his mind—Mallow McSmorely, the local crasher of Sugar Rush. What a delightful boy he was…when he wasn't crashing his kart during races. He could recall a number of particularly bad crashes occurring back in Fudgeway…

_Ah, memories,_ the insect beast thought fondly.

Then his eyes came to rest on the other figure. It was a small girl with white hair pulled back in a ponytail. She was dressed like a jester, her clothes divided down the middle into red and blue colors. He could barely see a pair of candy canes in her hair.

_Now who in mod's name is that? I don't know any racers that look like her,_ he wondered, squinting to see the scene better.

A pair of eyes, one red and one blue, suddenly met his. The giant bug nearly stumbled off his branch in shock. The girl was looking right at him. And…was that fear on her face?

She lifted a hand, shakily pointing at him. She started to say something…

Then her avatar glitched violently. He watched in horror as she suddenly shattered, her coding collapsing in on itself like a house of cards. Mallow seemed equally shocked, jumping back as the girl's code vanished into nothing. Loud cries from the track alerted the bug to the presence of other children.

He recognized the four children up on the track. Jacks Mapleman, a skittish brunette boy wearing glasses. Cotton Candioso, the cutest blonde girl you'd ever see who had nothing bad to say about anyone at all. Cocoa Cupcakia, a stubborn brunette girl with a negative outlook on most things but her loyalty to her friends went unmatched. And Pepper Swirlminta, a bespectacled raven-haired girl with a devious grin and a knack for building strange things in her spare time.

_They must have all come out here looking for me,_ he decided. _But…that girl… What happened to her? Her coding…shattered? Great caramel, I've never seen such a thing before! Did we really get glitch after all?_

He focused back on Mallow…who was also staring right at him. He could hear Cotton shouting something…about…a 'turbo'?

Brushing off the strange words, he pounced off of the branch and crashed onto the ground in front of Mallow. The resulting tremors threw the four racers up on the track off their feet. He lifted his head to apologize…only to see Mallow fleeing from him.

_What in starbursts' name is going on here?_ he wondered. _Did I scare them that badly? Oh, dear!_

Cotton was shouting again. "Run, Mallow! Run!"

The insect lunged forward, easily catching Mallow. Lifting the squirming boy up until he was eye-level with the beast, he sighed in relief before moving his head forward to nuzzle the racer. Mallow's squirms and cries ended instantly, as did everyone else's shouting.

_Now they recognize me,_ he thought happily. "Oh, thank _thtarburths_ I found you! I've been looking everywhere for you, my loyal _thubjecth_! I _wath_ getting worried!"

Mallow froze, staring as the monster pulled away. "Uh… What?" he squeaked, dumbfounded.

Cotton was the one to finally reveal his name. "…King Candy?!"


	2. Dethrone Me

I know you all likely want that explanation chapter so you know how all this King Candybug and Turbug stuff happened, but this one begged to be done first. "Explain to Me" will be up next, I swear…hopefully. So many plot bunnies in my head for this fic, guys!

Everything in italics is lifted directly from the **Sugar Rush: Expansion** thread in my forum, **Wreck-It Ralph: Expansion**.

CLAIMER: Pepper, Cocoa, and Cotton are mine. No stealing!

DISCLAIMER: Jacks and Mallow belong to Jac Bandit. No stealing!

Dethrone Me

"_Hurt Vanellope? Are you high on chocolate, _mithter_?" King Candy demanded, backing up. "I would never hurt one of my loyal _thubjecth_!"_

"_Your loyal subjects? You're not in charge anymore, Turbo! Vanellope is!" Ralph barked, taking another swing._

"_What are you blathering about? _Thure_, Vanellope _ith_ the _betht_ racer in _ThugarRuth_...but in charge? I'm afraid you are _mithtaken_!" King Candy corrected, dodging the swing._

.o.o.o.o.

King Candy sighed, curled up on the floor of the ballroom on one of the castle's upper floors. This was one of the biggest rooms in the castle, so it was no surprise Vanellope chose this as where he could stay. No other room could handle his size, after all.

His tails flicked slightly as he lay there, head resting on his arms. His eyes were half-lidded. Confusion, fear, and sorrow were evident on his face.

Snippets of the early conversations since coming to the castle returned to the forefront of his mind.

.o.o.o.o.

_Felix was already at the open code vault, wrapping a licorice rope around his waist. Vanellope was standing nearby, eyeing the cybrid cautiously._

"_Wait, what are you doing? You're not _thuppothed_ to go in there," King Candy warned._

"_We've done this plenty of times before. Just trying to figure out why you're here," Felix reassured._

"_Why I'm here?! Of _courthe_ I'm _thuppothed_ to be here. I'm the ruler of _thith_ game. Why don't any of you know _thith_?" King Candy asked, growing frustrated. He rounded on the racers. "Children, tell them! You know who I am, right?"_

"_Er... Yeah... See..." Mallow mumbled._

"_Well... We... Uh... Well... Uh..." Jacks mumbled as well._

"_You...were more or less...given the ax," Mallow said gently._

_King Candy stared in confusion. "...The ax? What ax?"_

"_Look, King Candy, you're not the ruler of Sugar Rush anymore. I am," Vanellope explained nervously._

.o.o.o.o.

The cybrid's eyes fell shut. His head and heart were full of a mishmash of thoughts and emotions, all conflicting with one another. None of it made sense.

_Much like my life right now,_ King Candy thought with a bitter chuckle.

There were so many questions that bubbled up inside. How did this happen? Why? Most of all…why him?

.o.o.o.o.

_Jacks stuttered a bit as Mallow sighed._

"_You're... Well... Uh..." Jacks mumbled._

"_You're not supposed to exist," Mallow said pretty bluntly. "You were either supposedly killed off by a deranged virus who took over or your code was never finished and was used to create the avatar for said virus who is, indeed, the person we call Turbo. We thought you were dead."_

"_I _wath_... What?!" King Candy backed up a few steps, eyes wide in shock. He suddenly giggled nervously. "...What are you talking about, ahoohoo? Of _courthe_ I'm _thuppothed_ to _exitht_. I'm _Thugar Ruth'th_ ruler."_

"_Maybe originally, but you didn't end up existing. Not as a full character, anyway," Cocoa said firmly. "All you were was a skeleton code, just bits and pieces that never got completed. The ruler of Sugar Rush is Vanellope, sir. Not you. You're only here now because Turbo used your code to manipulate this game. He nearly destroyed everything..."_

_King Candy stood there in shock for a moment before stepping back, tails dropping. "..._Tho_, I'm technically not alive."_

"_No! You're alive! Only because half of Turbo's code latched onto what little coding your avatar had!" Felix said quickly, trying to alleviate the situation. "Sick as it is to say it...you're only here because of Turbo. If it wasn't for him, you'd still be incomplete avatar coding..."_

"_...Oh. I...think I get it now." King Candy withdrew slightly. "And _thith_ Turbo...did horrible _thingth_ to _Thugar Ruth_..._uthing_ my form. I _thee_..."_

.o.o.o.o.

_Turbo…_

King Candy couldn't recall hearing such a name before. Then again, as far as he'd been told just a short time ago, he'd ceased to exist before Sugar Rush was plugged in. He'd been unable to learn about and interact with any of the other games in the arcade. He had no knowledge whatsoever about Sugar Rush's current place within the arcade life.

Except that Vanellope was the ruler. The princess—err, president—of Sugar Rush.

_I'm never going to get used to that,_ the cybrid thought, sighing.

"_Prethident_ Vanellope," he said experimentally.

He was used to royalty titles. This 'president' thing was foreign to him. Where in the world did Vanellope get such an odd title from? Wasn't 'princess' just fine?

.o.o.o.o.

"_Look, I know it's a lot to take in...but we'll be straight with you. There are a lot of folks here with bad memories involving you—er, your form. Turbo did a lot of bad stuff while he played ruler in your place," Felix explained gently, resting a gloved hand on one of the cybrid's insect legs. "It might take a while, but I'm sure if everyone was given some time, they'll accept you back."_

"_Not after that announcement we gave this morning, they won't. Everyone will associate him with Turbo," Calhoun argued. "We need to find Turbo and have him dealt with before we even think of trying to reintroduce King Candy to the racers."_

"_Yeah," Vanellope nodded. "...I guess he could stay here."_

"_Vanellope, no!" Ralph barked, having been by the door the whole time. "He's dangerous! Even if he isn't Turbo, he's still part cybug. He could hurt you."_

"_I won't hurt anyone. I'll be good," King Candy said, folding his legs under him until he was primarily flat against the ground. "_Monarch'th_ word of honor. I don't want to hurt anyone either. I _jutht_..."_

_The cybrid trailed off, staring at the ground. He looked troubled and it was no wonder why. Everything he had known had been torn to shreds in a matter of minutes. There was nothing left for him to say to justify himself. He had nothing..._

.o.o.o.o.

King Candy lifted his head, looking out the massive glass doors that gave him what was likely the best view of Sugar Rush imaginable. If he really wanted to, he could go out on the balcony and watch any race he pleased…only it was advised he stayed hidden due to the similar appearance he now held to Turbo.

Turbo… It was Turbo that caused him to look like this. Turbo had used his avatar to terrorize Vanellope and falsely rule over the other racers. He'd done so many horrible things to everyone.

_It's no wonder I'm suddenly so unwelcome here,_ King Candy realized, resting his head on his arms again. _A king is supposed to be loved by his subjects, not hated…but I'm not a king anymore. What do I have left here?_

.o.o.o.o.

_Mallow walked over to the cybrid. "Not everybody may know that you wouldn't hurt anybody, but I know you wouldn't. I mean, you had the perfect chance to eat me back there and instead of doing it when you had the chance, you practically gave me a monster hug and even put me down. I'm sure that when we explain to everyone when this blows over, they'll know that you're not the bad guy here."_

"_Poor King Candy..." Cotton whimpered._

"_Must suck to find out you weren't even supposed to exist and when you finally do exist, some psycho messed up your chances of acceptance because they wanted a game for themselves," Pepper muttered, shoving her glasses up her nose._

_The cybrid sighed before looking at Mallow, forcing out a small smile. "Thank you, Mallow. That _meanth_ a lot, hearing that from you. I'm truly _thorry_ for whatever _thith_ Turbo _perthon_ did to any of you while _uthing_ my avatar. You _ethpecially_, Vanellope."_

"_...No problem," Vanellope said, forcing a smile._

.o.o.o.o.

King Candy smiled at the memory. _I still have something. Mallow and the others still care for me despite all this. They still…want me around._

He looked out the glass doors again, brow furrowed. He frowned.

_Turbo… He's still wandering this game. He could hurt someone,_ the ex-king thought. _I may not be king anymore…but this is still my home. I want to help protect it, even if I'm not in charge anymore. I…want to do my part to protect this game._

He got up and stretched, yawning.

_But that can wait until tomorrow. Perhaps I can show everyone…that I'm not a monster, like Turbo is. Maybe I can use this virus form for something good…?_


	3. Explain to Me

Yes, it's short! My apologies, really, but I wanted to get this out of the way so I can do more fun stuff. I hope the explanation wasn't too confusing for you.

Explain to Me

"Okay, _tho_…explain it to me again?"

Felix sighed, pulling his hat off to rub his forehead. "Well…it's like this. When Turbo went into Diet Cola Mountain, his coding was fried…or so we thought."

"_Yeth_, I got that part," King Candy nodded. "But…how did you explain how we're both here?"

"Well…" Felix put his hat back on, rubbing his hands together. "Maybe it's better to show you than just tell you."

.o.o.o.o.

"Can you see it?" Felix called.

The handyman was floating within the void of the code vault, a licorice rope tied around his waist. He was near where King Candy's code box was, now broken into two sparking halves. Felix kept his distance, not wanting to accidentally cause anymore damage.

"_Yeth_, I can _thee_ it," King Candy confirmed.

The cybrid was standing in the code vault entry hall, head stuck through the vault's doorway to better see where Felix was. It still worried him that outsiders could get into the code vault like this. It was asking for trouble, really…but Vanellope trusted them…and she was in charge now…so he had to trust her judgment…even if he didn't like it one bit…

"See how your code box is…well, broken?" Felix asked.

"_Yeth_, I can _thee_ that. How in candy _caneth_ name did that happen?!" the monarch barked, dread creeping in as he saw his code box's ruined state. "Did Turbo do that?"

"No," Felix shook his head. "Though he had a hand in it, as unwilling as it was. I think this was caused by Turbo flying in Diet Cola Mountain. The hot cola damaged Turbo so badly that it sunk into your code box, melting it in two."

"That can happen? I thought only _virutheth_ can damage _thomeone'th_ code box directly," King Candy argued.

"Viruses are the usual cause of code destruction, but anything significantly damaging to one's code can damage the code box. Though I'll admit it, I've never seen a code box cut in two before, so I'm kind of iffy about the cause…but that's the only thing that makes sense," Felix pointed out nervously.

"I _gueth_," King Candy muttered, drawing back.

"Anyhow, Turbo could only integrate himself into Sugar Rush by weaving his coding into it. While creating his own custom avatar could've been done, he found himself in luck…I guess," Felix said. "Your coding, incomplete as it was, was still present within the code vault. Somehow, Turbo got into the code vault, found your code fragments, and mixed your codes so he could take on your avatar."

"_Thuth_ letting him trick everyone into thinking he _wath_ me," King Candy guessed.

"I'm afraid so," Felix confirmed sadly. "Your avatar was only able to hold together thanks to Turbo's complete coding. Without him, you'd still be code fragments in here."

"How ironic _thince_ he _cauthed thith_ whole _meth_…" the cybrid grumbled sourly.

"Now then, as for why you're here now," Felix continued. "From what we can guess, and the evidence we have here—" He indicated the broken code box. "—it looks as though both your codes were cut in half thanks to Diet Cola Mountain. Since Turbo's code is complete and yours is…fragmented…you only really exist here because of Turbo's code. Without it, your avatar would never be able to hold up in this world."

"And…_thith_?" King Candy gestured to his cy-bug frame. Felix sighed, looking helplessly at him.

"Well, Turbo was already infected with cy-bug coding. When he got destroyed by Diet Cola Mountain, I guess the virus managed to survive. And when your code box, taken over by Turbo's coding, got cut in two thanks to all the damage by the cola, I guess the cy-bug virus automatically split between both of you in order to save itself from deletion," Felix explained. "Of course, this is all a guess, but it sure explains why you're both cy-bug…things…right now."

"But you _thaid_ you haven't _theen_ Turbo yet. What if you're wrong and _he'th_ not…like _thith_?" King Candy gestured to himself again.

"The presence of cy-bugs alone tells us Turbo has to be like you. He managed to avoid being completely consumed by the virus once, after all. It'll be no shock if he can do it again," Felix admitted.

"Then why _wathn't_ I _conthumed_ by it?" King Candy asked.

"I'm not sure," Felix shrugged. "You're just a skeleton code…or were. It should've been very easy for the cy-bug virus to have consumed you. Then again, cy-bugs become what they eat. Maybe it's not a matter of the virus consuming you but making you a part of its own code…or making itself part of your code."

"…_Hath thith_ happened to anyone _elthe_?" King Candy questioned.

"Not that we're aware of," Felix replied. "Calhoun has never seen it happen back in Hero's Duty. Then again, the game usually ends before anything to that extent can occur. Outside of arcade hours, the soldiers don't interact with the cy-bugs at all since they're sealed up in their base. If it has ever happened before, the instant reset between rounds would automatically return everything to normal before it could become permanent."

"…_That'th confuthing_," King Candy pointed out.

"I know," Felix chuckled. "But that's how Calhoun explained it. Apparently, you and Turbo are the only cases where the cy-bug virus has been able to permanently place itself within your code. It doesn't help that Turbo was already infected before your code box got cut, so you would've been infected no matter what."

"_Ith_ there anyway to turn me back to normal?" the cybrid hesitantly asked.

"I…" Felix sighed, looking away. "We're not sure yet. From the look of things, nobody's too keen on testing anything like that until Turbo's dealt with. As long as he's running around…"

"_Thugar Ruth ith_ in danger," King Candy muttered softly. He stepped back into the vault hallway. "_It'th_ all right, Felix. I _underthtand. Thugar Ruth_ _mutht_ come _firtht_. Once Turbo _ith_ caught, then we can worry about me."

"I'm sure we'll find a way to get you back to normal!" Felix yelped, reeling himself into the doorway and scurrying after the cybrid. "Don't you worry! Once Turbo's gone, I'm sure we'll have this mess of yours fixed in a jiffy!"

King Candy chuckled. "_Perhapth_," he nodded. "I can afford to wait. No _ruth_…"


End file.
